A judge has stopped the deportation of a Pakistani migrant from Britain, despite a conviction for sexually assaulting an underage girl, because he is an alcoholic. The migrant had attacked the young girl after his release from prison, where he had served time for other sexual crimes.
While serving just a year in prison for the sex attack, the migrant appealed a deportation order, arguing that he would experience inhumane treatment if sent back to Pakistan, where alcohol is largely illegal. He claimed that his alcoholism would disadvantage him and that he would not be able to seek treatment for it in the Muslim-majority country.
The judge agreed with the migrant’s arguments, which also cited Pakistan’s prison conditions, noting that it would breach his supposed rights under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), enforced by the supranational European Court of Human Rights, which Britain did not leave after Brexit.
The migrant also argued that he has a child in Britain—which could have seen him avoid deportation per his “right to a family life”—but the court noted he and the child had not communicated since 2020.
The case is just the latest example of dangerous foreign criminals being allowed to remain in the United Kingdom due to the country’s adherence to the ECHR. Reform Party leader Nigel Farage has called for Britain to leave the ECHR to deport criminal migrants. In his first speech in the House of Commons last July, he called for a referendum on the subject.
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